Can a legal guardian enroll their ward in a public school in New York?

Full question:

I have lawful guardianship of my niece and want to enroll her in the public school in my school district. But the school authorities say if the parents are alive, only they can enroll the child in school. Are the school authorities correct?

• Category: Marriage
• Date: 04/07/2025
• State: New York

Answer:

In New York any person who has the lawful guardianship of a child can enroll the child in public school in the applicable school district in which such lawful guardian and the child reside. The law is stated in N.Y. Dom. Rel. Law § 74 that reads:
“1. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, a person possessing a lawful order of guardianship or custody of a minor child, who is not the parent of such child, may enroll such child in public school in the applicable school district where he or she and such child reside. Upon application for enrollment of a minor child by a guardian or custodian who is not the parent of such child, a public school shall enroll such child for such time as the child resides with the guardian or custodian in the applicable school district, upon verification that the guardian or custodian possess a lawful order of custody for such child and that the guardian or custodian and the child properly reside in the same household within the school district.
2. Notwithstanding any provision of law to the contrary, persons possessing a lawful order of custody of a child who are not a parent of such child shall have the right to enroll and receive coverage for such child in their employer based health insurance plan and to assert the same legal rights under such employer based health insurance plans as persons who possess lawful orders of guardianship of the person for a child pursuant to rule twelve hundred ten of the civil practice laws and rules, article seventeen of the surrogate's court procedure act, or part four of article six of the family court act.”